HOW DOES INTERFERENTIAL THERAPY(IFT) WORK?
Interferential current therapy works by sending small amounts of electrical stimulation to damaged tissues in the body. The therapy is meant to boost the body's natural process of responding to pain, by increasing circulation thus producing hormones that promote healing. IFT delivers intermittent pulses to stimulate surface nerves and block the pain signal, delivering continuous deep stimulation into the affected tissue. IFT relieves pain, increases circulation, decreases edema, and stimulates the muscles. A frequency of 100Hz may stimulate the large diameter A-beta fibers, which have an effect on the pain gate, and inhibit the transmission of small-diameter nociceptive traffic ( C and A-delta fiber), which effectively closes the gait to painful impulses. Interferential current Increases the circulation of blood thus reducing swelling, by washing away the chemicals that stimulate the nociceptive nerve endings.
The frequency between 1 and 100 Hz is used to contract the normal innervated muscles. Different types of frequencies cause different contractions, a low frequency, causes a twitch, a frequency between 5 and 20 Hz causes a partial tetany contraction and a frequency from 30 to 100 Hz causes a tetanic contraction. IFT also helps to reduce edema 100Hz frequency promotes vasodilation, thus decreasing edema. And a frequency of 10 Hz activates the musculoskeletal pump, promote venous and lymphatic return causing a reduction of edema.
